Late shoppers still can find good wines before the new year

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I have only myself to blame. Instead of following the time-tested wisdom of shopping early for year-end sparkling wines, I waited — with predictable results.

Depleted selection, a crowded store and harried clerks awaited me at the nearest PLCB Premium Collection store. One clerk even chastised me, rather than offering to assist, when I tried to help myself by using an in-store computer terminal to check available inventory.

Ah, the pleasures of shopping for wine in a government-controlled monopoly. Will 2013 be the year when the governor and legislature finally plunge a stake into the sclerotic heart of this antiquated bête noire?

Don't bet on it.

Meanwhile, despair not if you share my procrastinating ways. Steel yourself for last-minute shopping, and try the following excellent wines while supplies last:

As the name implies, the “méthode ancestral” was the original, ancient way to create sparkling wines, albeit, spontaneously. Residual yeast remaining in the bottle after initial fermentation in the fall causes a secondary fermentation when temperatures rise in the spring.

This results in more subtle beads of bubbles, a condition in French known as pétillant naturel. Brun's wine delights the senses with light, yet persistent, froth. With only 7.5 percent alcohol, the wine allows for easy drinking.

After hand-harvesting and gentle pressing, only about 70 percent of the juice goes into fermentation. Roederer also blends portions of well-aged “reserve” wines in the “cuvée” prior to initial bottling to ensure consistency, finesse and quality.

And, as in Champagne, Davenne adds yeast in the bottle for a carefully controlled, secondary fermentation. This accounts for the wine's profusion of fine, frothy bubbles to delight the eye and tickle the nose.

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